After Shambala
by RoyxRizaFan
Summary: This is a story about what happened between Roy and Riza after CoS. Some parts modernize Amestria, but its meant for pure entertainment. RoyxRiza, please R/R!
1. Chapter 1

1

1. Once the Elric brothers had their mind set on something, there was no way to make them change their stubborn minds. This was something that Roy Mustang had to learn the hard way. He had tried to convince them to stay in Amestria, but the brothers had insisted on returning to Germany, destroying the portal as they went. Roy returned alone to Amestria, feeling slightly defeated.

He hadn't had the easiest ride recently. Ever since the death of his best friend, Maes Hughes, everything had been going downhill. After finding out about the homunculi's plans, he had ended up killing the Fuhrer, King Bradley, to help save his country, although he had lost his eye in the process. Unable to hide from everything he had done in the past (including killing the Rockbells in Ishbal), Roy had given up trying to continue life like nothing had happened. In one last attempt to make things right, he had left his post to bring the brothers back, although he came out defeated. They were gone and there was no longer any way to bring them back. It was just another failure to add to his list.

He had been aimlessly wandering around the streets without a destination for a while now, looking over the past few months, trying to make sense of them so that he could find his next move. He couldn't spend the rest of his life in regret. He had to find some way to get back on track and make up for all he had done somehow. But he didn't know where to start.

Finding nothing else to do yet, he decided that the best thing to do would to go to the Lieutenant and tell her all that had happened. He needed to talk to someone, and she was probably the only person still awake at this hour. He had been carrying the burden of letting the Elrics leave for over a week now, and it was about time he got in touch with her after their rough departure.

He walked into a phone booth and typed in her number. On the third ring, he heard the phone being picked up.

"Hello?" a man's voice called. Roy paused for a moment, startled.

"Is…is this Riza Hawkeye's residence?" he asked in a cautious voice.

"Yes."

Nothing more followed the 'yes'. Roy stared at the phone, wondering who this man was and why he was at her house. "Is she there? Can I talk to her?"

"Sure. Hold on a second."

Silence came from the other line. Roy waited impatiently, tapping his fingers on the side of the wall. At last, the voice he had been expecting to pick up came.

"Hello?"

"It's me," he said simply. "I wanted to tell you what happened with the Elric brothers."

He thought he heard a groan from the other end of the line. "Why didn't you call me a week ago when you came back?"

"I've been under a lot of stress. I didn't feel like talking to anyone. I wasn't ready."

"But you are now?"

"Yes."

She sighed. "This isn't a good time. Can I talk to you tomorrow?"

He waited a moment, debating to ask the next question or not. "Who are you with?"

"Goodbye, Brigadier General." He heard a click and she was gone.

He slammed the phone down on the reciever, wondering how much had changed in the week he had been gone.


	2. Chapter 2

2

2. He leaned against her desk, waiting for her to look up from her paperwork.

"So, who's going to tell their story first?" he asked.

"I don't have a story to tell," she muttered without looking up.

"I think you do."

"The only one who has a story to tell is the one who ran off – _again _– without a word as to where he was going, just to return and not show up for a week." She finally looked up, though the look on her face made Roy wish she hadn't.

"I already told you why. And if you're not ready to tell me about your new friend yet, then I'll tell you about the Elrics."

"Winry Rockbell already told me. You remember her, don't you?"

Roy frowned, hoping that that hadn't been some sort of sick joke to get on his nerves. "So, you don't need me to tell you anything about what happened?"

"Nope." She wasn't looking at him anymore.

He paused before adding, "You seem different today."

"Do I?" she asked in a dry tone. "I wonder why that is?"

All her comments and snide remarks had him feeling as if he had done something wrong. He frowned. "What are you trying to get at, Hawkeye?"

She stood up from her desk, pushing back her chain roughly and snatching a few papers as she strode to the copy machine. "Nothing."

"Come on. I think I've known you long enough to know when I'm pissing you off."

She turned around quickly, flashing a glare at him from across the room. "What were you thinking in that moment when you left to go chase the Elrics?"

He wondered what this question had to do with anything. "What are you talking about? I was thinking that I had to bring them back-"

"Nothing else?" she verified. "Like that you should have told me where you were going instead of taking off in a hot air balloon, leaving me behind, _again_?"

"You just said that a second ago. Besides, I figured one of the others would tell you. I was in a rush."

"Of course." She grabbed her copies, but she didn't return to her desk, where he was standing. "For years I've been following you around, trying to help you gain your position as Fuhrer, and when you changed your mind, I was fine with that, too. We went through everything together and when it was over, we were finally given the opportunity to live semi normal lives. But then you left _again_ to go hiding in the north. Suddenly, you decided to return, and I accepted you as if you hadn't left at all. Not long after, you went off to chase the Elrics, leaving me behind again. It's an unhealthy pattern and I had to break it."

"What do you mean by 'break it'?" he asked hesitantly, deciding not to comment on what he couldn't deny.

She smirked smugly at him, an expression he had never seen on her before. "I'm starting over anew. My first step is a new romance, and that would be with the man you spoke to last night. _Matthew O'Brien_."

She stapled the copies together and left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

3

3. "It's nice that you've finally come back, Brigadier General. I thought you had, like, completely resiged or something." Havoc lit his cigarrette and peered over at Roy. "We got Hawkeye to tell us everything that happened between you and the Elrics. She had that cute girl Winry tell her everything."

"How have things been around here?" he asked duly.

"Not as hectic as they used to be," Breda answered. "We only have one small case on our hands. Some old alchemist keeps on getting bizarre threats saying that all his notes, which were supposed to have burned in the first library, were actually recovered and someone is in hold of them. It's nothing major, though, and I don't really think his notes are anything special. But that's what you'll be working on with us now that you're back."

Roy sighed, slouching back in his chair. "Man, this is going to be a long day."

"Have you heard about Riza's boyfriend?" Havoc asked, leaning forward excitedly.

"You shouldn't be smoking in the office," Fuery muttered, though he was ignored.

"_Matthew O'Brien_. Yeah, I've heard of him."

"I've met him," Havoc smirked. "He's pretty amazing. You've got strong competetion now that you're back."

Roy laughed. "It has nothing to do with me."

"Of course not." Havoc's smirk widened as he turned back to his paperwork.

"You two shouldn't talk about this. She could be in the next room, for all you know," Fuery reminded them.

"Whatever," Havoc groaned. "It's not like I said anything bad about him anyway."

Taking in Fuery's words, Roy shot a look at the door before asking in a whisper, "What does he do for a living?"

Havoc leaned forward, whispering back. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Cut the crap."

"He's a lawyer." Roy groaned. "I told you it was strong competition."

"Since when is it competition?"

"You know," Havoc conitnued, ignoring his question, "he'll probaby be by to pick her up later today. They're going on a date. Maybe you can meet him?"

Breda looked up from his paperwork, deciding that the conversation was interesting after all. "Oh, sounds like fun!"

Roy smirked. "I guess it wouldn't hurt, would it?"

Havoc laughed before coughing and spitting out his ciggarrette.

…

"Yo! Matt!" Havoc called, waving, as he walked out of the building followed by Breda and Roy. "Nice to see you again!"

Matt looked up from where he stood, leaning against his car. He was very tall and had wavy brown hair that fell past his ears. He was dressed in a sharp suit, a leather briefcase in one hand, and he had a convertible.

"Imagine if he had a motorcycle to pick her up with," Breda laughed.

"Yeah, right," Havoc muttered back, "but you have to admit that his owning a _Mustang_ is a little too ironic."

"If it isn't Jean Havoc." He grinned over at him. "And Heymans Breda, too. Who's this behind you two?"

"Roy Mustang. Riza used to work for him."

Recognition spread across Matt's face. "Oh." Roy cringed, wondering what kind of stories he had heard about him.

"Nice to meet you," Roy greeted him, outstretching his hand.

"You two," he returned. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I can tell."

"Matthew!" Riza's voice came from behind them.

Havoc rubbed his hands together excitedly, exchanged a childish grin with Breda. "This is getting good."

Riza looked the three of them over. "I see you ran into Matthew on your way out from work."

"I finally got a chance to meet Roy Mustang," Matt added.

"He says that you've told him a lot about me," Roy added. Riza shot a glance at him and then back to Matt.

"We should probably get going," she mumbled, slipping past him into the car.

"Nice seeing you again, and meeting you, Mr. Mustang," Matt said, joining her.

As they drove off, Breda commented, "Doesn't the Lieutenant seem a lot more immature recently? She's a little more childish than she used to be."

_She's not the only one, _Roy thought. "Maybe he's not a good influence…?"

Havoc laughed a little harder. "Man, things were boring until you came back!"


	4. Chapter 4

4

4. "Another letter came in today!" Falman announced as he walked into the office, holding a small piece of paper. "Unless the alchemist pays him 50,000 dollars by the end of the week, the research is going to slowly be revealed. The only problem is that the alchemist who was being threatened is denying that it's his research. It has to be _someone's_, though, but even I can't remember whose it is." He held out the note. "He wrote a small sample here, but I can't figure out what the research is about." He passed it to Fuery and sat down at his desk. "Maybe one of you can make some sense out of this."

Roy hadn't really been listening to anything he had been saying. Once again, he had had another sleepless night. There was too much on his mind. He was having trouble letting go on the past and moving on. This new, small job seemed so unreal after all he had gone through. How could he be back at the beginning after all he had gone through?

"Here, Mustang." Breda held out the paper to him. "I couldn't make any sense of it."

Roy accepted it, although he wasn't the least bit interested in it. He looked it over briefly. He was about to pass it on to Havoc when something about it struck him as familiar.

"It sounds familiar," he told the group, "though I can't remember where from…"

Falman became thoughtful before jumping up. "Is it your alchemy master? I remember you mentioning him once or twice! I don't think you ever told us his name, but if you recognize it, it's probably his!"

"Or it could be that old kook Marcoh's. Mustang would recognize that!" Breda suggested.

"I think Falman's right," Roy said thoughtfully, scanning the paper again. "Yeah, it's definitely his." He stood up, putting the paper into his pocket. "I'll be back!" Before anyone could stop him, he was gone.

…

After finding out that she had left for the day, Roy had gone to Riza's house. He rang the doorbell, waiting impatiently. Usually she stayed late at work instead of leaving early.

At last, she answered. She didn't seem too happy to see him standing on her doorstep. "What is it?"

"Have you heard about the case concerning the alchemist whose research was saved from the library?"

"I'm working on that case," she answered, "but at work, not on my time off. This doesn't concern me while I'm not on duty."

She definitely had changed a lot in a week. Since when had she been so careless about her job? "Well, this does concern you as a person this time. It's your _father's _research that was stolen."

Her eyes lit up with curiosity. He held out the paper and she accepted it, looking it over. "It doesn't seem too familiar, but he told you more than me. I'll take your word for it."

She looked up, meeting his eyes. "What does this mean, though? Is his research worth…" she gulped "…50,000?"

Roy bit his tongue, not wanting to answer, but finally nodding. "Probably. It always seemed important, didn't it? I don't know all about it, but I don't think you'd want it falling into the wrong hands."

She sighed, leaning against her door. "I guess it could be worse. I'll find some way to afford it." She didn't seem too sure.

"Afford what?"

Roy cringed, recognizing Matt's voice. He had finally gotten the Lieutenant to talk to him and then he had to come along.

Riza looked past Roy and over at him. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to keen on repeating the story either, though she did anyway. "Remember that case I told you I was working on?"

He smiled. "Yes."

She grew paler. "Well, it's _my father's_ research and they want 50,000 for it."

Somehow he didn't seem too surprised. "Oh," was all he said.

"You don't seem too shocked," Roy commented.

"Well, her father is a very well known alchemist," he defended.

"Can you believe it? 50,000!" she repeated. "Some people may consider that nothing, but I don't have that kind of money on me! I can't come up with that by the end of the week! I'll have to take out a huge loan from the bank!"

Roy was no longer listening. He just watched Matt's expression as Riza continued talking. His lack of shock was a little too suspicious. He was going to start investigating Matthew O'Brien.


	5. Chapter 5

5

5. Havoc laughed. "Come off of it, Mustang. We're not going to investigate Matt! Obviously, you're just out to get him because you're jealous that he stole Riza away while you were gone!"

"If you had seen his expression, you would agree with me," Roy argued. "He's obviously in this somehow!"

"Yeah, right." Havoc continued to laugh. "Honestly, I can understand if you don't like him, but you don't have to pin him to a crime to get your point across!"

Roy frowned. Obviously, no one was going to believe him because they had some crazy idea that he had been out to get Matt from the start. He was going to have to look into Matt on his own without telling the others about it.

Roy flicked on his computer and typed _Matthew O'Brien _into the search engine. All that came up were ways to get in touch with him and about his past cases (the successful ones). He scanned them, trying to find something that would help him prove his case.

A Live Journal page for a girl named Kayla O'Brien caught his eye. She seemed to be talking about Matthew. They must be related! Roy clicked on the link.

…_Matthew came over the other day to stay over. He hasn't stayed over since he moved out five years ago! Apparently his air conditioning broke in his house and he can't afford to fix it at the moment, so I had to share _my _room with him! It was SO annoying…_

"He's tight on money," Roy laughed. "He probably already has a ton of unpaid bills piled up. There's a motive right there!"

"Tons of people are in tight financial situations," Breda, who had overheard, commented. "It doesn't mean they're going to steal a ton of alchemy research and hold it hostage."

Roy frowned. "You guys won't give me a chance until I drag him in and have him give you a confession!"

"Drag who in? Do you have a lead?" Riza stepped into the room, looking over the group curiously.

"It's nothing. The boys just won't listen to any of my suggestions until I give them some cold hard evidence. I was trying to think of people who were close to your father," Roy answered. "It has to be someone who knows about his research and where to find it."

"Obviously they don't know about the Lieutenant," Havoc pointed out in a loud voice directed towards Roy, "or they would have sent the letter to her in the first place!"

Roy frowned. "Maybe that's what they _want _us to think!"

The boys rolled their eyes.

"Hey, why don't the two of you work on thinking up some suspects together while we look over the clues?" Fuery proposed. "If anyone can think of who would do this to Mr. Hawkeye, it's you!"

Riza and Roy looked at each other briefly. "I guess that's a reasonable idea," Riza agreed. "The day's practically over, so let's go back to my place. Maybe looking through some old photo albums can bring back some memories that can lead to who may have done this."

Roy nodded and followed her out of the office. The car ride to her house was awkward and silent until Roy asked, "So, what did Matthew have to say about the case after I left?"

She shrugged. "Nothing much. I didn't want to get him too involved so that he doesn't have to worry too much. Luckily his job makes it so he doesn't get worried in situations like that and he thinks logically. He said that I'll probably have to take out the cash from the bank and start a loan or something…"

"Cash?" he verified. "Why would he say that?"

She laughed. "You must have lost your touch, Brigadier General. Obviously, the person holding the research isn't going to take a check! That's worth nothing to them!"

They pulled up in front of her apartment and she stopped the car. Roy turned to her, a serious look on his face. "We'll finish the case before the end of the week, so you don't have to worry about any of that."

His serious demeanor took Riza aback, but she smiled. "Thank you, Brigadier General, I'm sure you're right and that under any other circumstance I would believe that. It's just a little more difficult now that the case concerns me." She stepped out of the car and Roy followed her, heading to the door without another word.

They paused just before going up the stairs. On her doorstep was a small, cardboard box. Riza flashed a quick glance at Roy. "What do you suppose is inside of _that_? It can't be from the culprit, can it? They don't know about me!"

"Stay back," Roy ordered, rushing forward to the box. He knelt down in front of it, slowly lifting the box to reveal…

A leather briefcase with a note attached to it. Roy opened the briefcase, but all that was inside were documents about a court case. He scanned them, recognizing them and the briefcase as Matthew's.

"Lieutenant, come look at this!" he called.

She rushed forward and knelt down next to him, letting out a gasp. "It's Matthew's!"

"I came to that conclusion, too." He lifted the note and unfolded it, holding it out so they could both read it. Their eyes scanned the page, and once they had finished reading the small message, Riza let out another small gasp.

"Roy, they _know _about me!" she cried, not noticing she had called him by his first name, "and they've taken Matthew _hostage_!"


	6. Chapter 6

6

6. "…and unless she pays _75,000 _by the end of this very same week, she can say goodbye to Matthew and the research notes," Roy told Havoc, Fuery, Falman, and Breda.

"This complicates things," Falman muttered.

"Duh!" Havoc rolled his eyes.

"What's the significance of the briefcase?" Fuery asked.

"To prove that they really do have Matthew," Roy answered. "He brings it with him anyway, even though he's been out of work for a while now. All the cases are dated from last year. He hasn't been doing too well."

Havoc laughed bitterly. "You can't _still _be on that, Mustang! They guy didn't take himself hostage!"

"Up until yesterday, all the notes were sent to some other alchemist that had nothing to do with Mr. Hawkeye," Roy stated. "Matthew finds out about it, and suddenly the threats are directed to the Lieutenant. Now, other than Matthew, we were the only ones who knew that it was Mr. Hawkeye's research. This just proves that it's connected to Matthew in some way!"

Havoc groaned. "I don't know…"

"Well, I do, and I think we should start researching into Matthew O'Brien a little more," Roy continued. "Does _anyone _agree with me?"

Breda frowned. "I'm going to guess that the Lieutenant doesn't know a thing about this suspect of yours, right?"

"Correct. She definitely wouldn't believe it."

"75,000, wow, whoever's behind this is really pushing it!" Fuery thought aloud. "We don't have much time left. Unless we start looking into _something_, she's going to have to pay it or we're all in big trouble." He smiled over at Roy. "I'll help you! Maybe I can find some way to hack into some of his computer files!"

"Yeah, count me in."

"Me too!"

Roy looked over at Havoc expectantly. "Well?"

Havoc frowned. "Jeez, man, don't look at me like that! I don't have a choice, do I? Ugh, I guess I can help you guys…_for now_."

Roy grinned. "You'll see I'm right, and you'll owe me big time!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!"

The phone on the Lieutenant's desk began to ring. The group exchanged worried glances.

"What if it's concerning the case?" Fuery asked. "We can't let it go to the answer machine!"

Roy walked over and picked up the phone. Havoc rushed after him, leaning in so he could hear the conversation. "Hello?"

"It's Matthew," the voice came. Roy and Havoc exchanged shocked glances.

"Matt, where are you?" Roy demanded. "What's going on?"

"They told me to call," he explained, "to prove that I'm still alive. Otherwise, the deal wouldn't be able to be completed."

"That's right…" Roy muttered thoughtfully. "Can you see the face of the person who took you?"

"No, they have a mask on. But it's definitely a man – oh, I can't tell you anymore. They'll get angry."

"Matt-"

"I have to go!"

"Wait-"

Beeeep

Roy held out the phone, staring at it, dumbfounded, before hanging it up and looking over at Havoc. "That was…"

"…Strange," Havoc agreed. "Even _I _can't argue that!"

"Sure, more kidnappers let the hostage make a call, but they're usually the ones making it," Roy pointed out, "and it just seemed so corny."

"Too bad we couldn't trace the call or something," Havoc muttered. "I bet it came from his house or something."

Roy's eyes lit up. "His house, huh? I wonder if the Lieutenant has a key. Maybe we could start by looking through there!"

"But that would mean telling her about it," Havoc pointed out. "Are you ready for that?"

Roy paused before answering. She had finally stopped acting cold towards him. This was sure to set her off again. But there was no other choice. "I guess if I have the four of you to back me up, she might listen."


	7. Chapter 7

7

7. Roy, Havoc, Fuery, Falman, and Breda sat in front of her, waiting for a response. Her eyes were wide in shock and she seemed a little irritated. Roy watched her silently, wishing that there was some other way to solve the case.

"That's silly! He wouldn't take himself hostage!" she objected, though she didn't sound as sure as before.

"You haven't known him for long," Roy pointed out, "and the culprit hasn't contacted you directly until after you mentioned the case in front of him. If this _is_ his doing, he's definitely not doing a good job of hiding it." He resisted a smirk.

"He can't be this stupid is he's a lawyer," she argued.

"People can get desperate when it comes to money."

Riza looked over the group once more before reaching into her bag and pulling out a set of keys. "You can go, but I'm coming with you. I'm thinking that it would be better if only three of us went, because it'll be too obvious otherwise."

"We'll continue investigating while you work on that," Fuery said, pointing at Falman and Breda.

Riza held out the keys to Roy. "Here."

He took them, smiling sadly. "Somehow, I was wishing you _wouldn't _have them, even if it's going to help the investigation."

"What do you mean, sir?"

He shrugged, putting them into his pocket. "Nothing…nothing."

…

They went into the house that night, when they were least likely to be seen, even if it was legal, since she had the key. They could always say they were looking for clues as to who took him if anyone asked.

"I can't see any signs of a struggle," Havoc observed as they wandered through the house.

"He could have been threatened with a gun," Riza pointed out.

Havoc skimmed through a notepad on his desk. "I don't think we're going to find anything…"

Roy looked at his calendar. "Nothing."

"I'll check out the computer," Havoc suggested, rushing into the backroom.

Roy turned to Riza. "Does he have an address book?"

She looked at him curiously. "What do you expect to find there?"

"I saw a passage on his sister, Kayla's, Live Journal talking about his financial problems. I'd like to ask her some questions is we don't find anything here."

Riza seemed reluctant, but she led him upstairs into his bedroom. She opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small notebook, which she handed to Roy. "Here. But don't be too nosy. You can go ahead. Havoc and I will stay here."

He nodded, taking the notebook and leaving the house.

…

On the second ring of the doorbell, Kayla answered the door. She took one look at Roy's uniform and frowned. "Uh, my parents aren't home right now."

"How about your brother?" he asked.

She frowned. "W-well…he's here, he's just not feeling too great. He hasn't left his room and he told me that he doesn't want to talk to anyone, but I'll make an exception for you." She glanced at his uniform again. "I can bring you to him."

Roy grinned. "Thanks."

She led him down the hall to a door. She knocked once, calling, "You've got company!" and opened the door. Matthew was inside, sitting on his bed, terror in his eyes as recognized Roy.

"I told you not to let anyone in, Kayla!" he cried in a desperate voice.

"Yeah, but he's in the military," she explained, turning and leaving the room.

Roy turned to Matthew once she was gone. "Was that the masked kidnapper? That little girl? Oh, I forgot! The kidnapper's a man!"

Matthew frowned. "They let me go. I paid them the 25,000. But they still want the money for the research!"

"You couldn't afford 25,000! You can't even afford to fix your air conditioning. You've been out of work for months!" Roy crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. "You fell into possession of Mr. Hawkeye's research and linked it back to his daughter. Being desperate for money, you decided to exchange it for money. To make it so no one would ever suspect you, you began dating her and sent the threat notes to a different person. Once she found out about it, you decided it was safe to start sending the notes to her, and you took yourself hostage so you could be paid more and take more suspicion off of yourself. You didn't do a good job, though. You left too many clues behind, and see how easily we were able to catch you!"

"'_We'_?" he repeated. "You mean you're not the only one making this big mistake?"

"Don't try hiding it _now_, Matthew. Not when I've pinned you down like this!"

In the blink of an eye, Matt had reached under his pillow and whipped out a gun, which he pointed at Roy. "Well, if I couldn't hold myself hostage, I can do it to you instead! No one else needs to find out about this! All I need is my money, and then I'll leave you alone! I'm hoping you'll cooperate with me…" He clicked his gun into place to fire threateningly "…I wouldn't want you to have to lose _both _of your eyes, Roy Mustang."

Roy wanted to reach for his ignition gloves, but if he moved, Matt would probably shoot. He should have been more prepared before coming!

"Matthew, give up," Roy said in as calm of a voice as he could manage. "You don't want to get yourself into more troub-"

A gunshot went off. Roy thought it had come from Matt's gun, but he hadn't felt anything, and it was Matt who fell backwards, onto his bed. Roy whipped around, wondering who had saved him.

"Lieutenant?" he asked.

She stood, with Havoc behind her, with her gun raised. She was frowning deeply as she stepped forward, closer to Matt, who was clutching his bleeding hand. She snatched his gun and tossed it to Roy.

"I see your sharp shooting skills are as good as ever," Roy commented with a brisk laugh.

"You didn't clean up after yourself very well," Riza hissed at Matt. "I found _this _in one of your trash barrels." She held up a small piece of paper. "My father's _research_. So I want you to put your hands above your head and come with us."


	8. Chapter 8

8

8. "Well?"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! You were right, I was wrong! So quit nagging me about it!" Havoc sounded aggravated, but he was smirking at Roy.

"None of you believed a thing I said for a while there," Roy continued, "but it was so _obvious _that Matthew was the culprit!"

"It's a good thing we cooperated with you, or else Hawkeye would have ended up paying him through the nose," Breda added. "What a loser."

"He was desperate alright," Falman agreed with a laugh.

"Now Hawkeye got her father's research back and everything's been cleared up," Fuery said with a smile. "Everything's going to be back to normal."

Havoc's smirk grew a little wider as he took out his lighter. "Were things ever _really _normal for this group? This is _nothing _compared to what we've gone through together before!"

Havoc looked over at the clock. "Man, does the day fly by! We should really get going!"

The group filed out of the building, talking about their latest success all the way. Once in the parking lot, they spotted Riza waiting at the bus stop.

Havoc elbowed Roy. "You know, she's single now."

"Really? I hadn't noticed when I arrested her boyfriend yesterday."

Havoc rolled his eyes. "You guys were going out for a while there. Don't tell me that after all that's happened the past week that some of those old feelings aren't still there! You can't hold onto the old problems of Amestia forever. I know you say you see all crap you've done behind your eye patch or whatever, but the only way to make up for that is to make some good of yourself!"

"Wow, Havoc, I don't think I've ever heard you talk seriously for that long before," Roy laughed.

Havoc groaned. "Come on, man! Go talk to her at least! I think you'd owe anyone that after what happened!"

Roy glanced over at her. "I guess you're right about that at least." He took a deep breath and approached her. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps.

She looked between him and the bus stop. "I don't have a ride now that Matthew…" Her voice trailed off. "Well, _you know_."

He nodded. "Why don't I give you a ride today?"

She seemed a little unsure, but she smiled and nodded. "Thanks, I'd appreciate that."

They walked over to his car and he held the door open for her. She slipped inside and he walked around to his seat, wondering what he would say once he was inside.

"I'm sorry about everything that's happened this week," he began.

"It's not your fault. I'm not too upset about it. Luckily, I haven't known him for too long, so I wasn't too close to him. I'm a little disappointed, but I'll be alright."

He gripped onto the steering wheel, debating on whether to say what was on his mind or not. "Well…I can't help but wonder if this would have happened if I hadn't left."

She looked up with a jolt, surprised that he was addressing the subject. "You can't be sure of that. It's not that big of a deal, anyway. Like I said, I'm not too upset about Matthew!"

He was still frowning as he pulled up in front of her house. "When I came back after not getting in touch for a week, everything you said about me leaving was true. You were right, Riza."

She seemed shocked at his use of her name. He looked over at her hesitantly. "And I guess I'm sorry."

She wasn't smiling and her eyes still seemed cold. "You keep saying you're fine and that you can stay put, but then you keep leaving. How is this time different than any other? I don't think you can stay put. It's just not your nature. Even now, when everything's over, I don't think you can manage it."

He leaned back in his seat. He could understand where she was coming from. He supposed that if he been in her position, he'd be reacting the same way. But the Elrics were gone and the country was back to normal. This time, he felt like he may be able to 'stay put'.

She sighed, leaping out of the car. He sat up, trying to find something to say before she was gone.

He didn't have to. She turned around and leaned into the window. "Why don't you come in for a little bit and we can talk?"

His smirk wandered back onto his face. "Fine with me," he agreed, hopping out of the car.

_Author's notes: Well, thanks to those of you who read this story to the end! It's kind of a hopeful ending, isn't it? Well, please drop me a review and let me know what you think! Thanks again! _


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